OPINION: Schiff the Dangerous Demagogue 

Adam Schiff’s political career has been that of a relentless opportunist demagogue with a mindless disregard of the of the potential consequences.

That was well illustrated during the first California US Senate debate, held January 22^nd hosted by Fox 11 LA and Politico at the USC campus, between candidates Congressman Adam Schiff, Congresswoman Katy Porter, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and retired baseball great Steve Garvey. 

As Schiff asserted during that debate, his campaign for US Senate is punctuated by two issues extremely destabilizing to our democracy; court packing of the US Supreme Court, and doing away with the US Senate filibuster to pass specific issues not generally agreed to by the country at large. 

A second debate took place on February 12^th and Schiff boldly stated the absolute falsehood that Trump had committed “court packing” of the U.S. Supreme Court. “Court Packing” has a well established definition, which is adding additional Justices to change the outcome of certain cases.

When Trump became President there were nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and there were nine Justices when he left office. Therefore, Trump did not engage in Court Packing, and Schiff lied again.   

Filibuster

While the filibuster may frustrate a temporary U.S. Senate majority, for a major policy change to be accepted by the nation as a whole, a consensus is required, and the filibuster has been highly effective in that regard, a fact that has been little recognized. The filibuster has worked with great effectiveness to create national acceptance on many issues, notably racial civil rights.   

What our nation does not need is where a temporary, and many times very small, majority of the U.S. Senate crams major changes on an unwilling country. That obviously destabilizing situation is what Schiff loudly advocates. 

Court Packing

In that debate Schiff also advocated for adding, enough U.S. Supreme Court justices to outvote what he contends is the current court majority, mentioning specific Congressional legislation those additional Justices should be selected to support. 

To add U.S. Supreme Court Justices for the protection of specific legislation is the exact opposite of a fair and open minded court. A Supreme Court consisting of Justices selected for pre-ordained outcomes on specific issues is a manner guaranteed to destroy all beliefs in the fairness of all courts in the United States. 

Further, the next temporary majority of the U.S. Senate would then be forced to add Justices to overturn rulings of the “Schiff” Court, and we could soon see a one hundred and fifty-seven member U.S. Supreme Court, and a country in legal chaos.    

This obviously fatally destabilizes what was always considered the world’s great democracy, and is the obvious result of Schiff’s “issues.”

Even President Franklin Roosevelt, with huge Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, backed off from this issue, due to the obvious destabilization of the country. Clearly Schiff considers himself very far superior to President Franklin Roosevelt.  

Destabilize our nation as Schiff desires, and the only real beneficiaries are the worst of the world’s bad actors; Russia, Iran, and China, and their minions, which now includes Adam Schiff.       

Schiff Lied About Lying

During the debate Steve Garvey brought up the Congressional Censure of Adam Schiff for lying. Schiff immediately lied again by stating the censure was solely for opposing Trump. 

Schiff was Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee which afforded him access to sensitive intelligence unavailable to most members of Congress. 

The actual language of the Congressional Censure is far different than Schiff’s contention it was punishment for “standing up to Trump.” The censure, House Resolution 521, defines Schiff’s lies:

“Whereas for years, Representative Schiff abused his trust by alleging he had evidence of collusion that, as is clear from reports by Special Counsel Robert Muller, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and Special Counsel Durham, never existed;

Whereas for years Representative Schiff has spread false accusations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia;

Whereas on March 20, 2017, Representative Schiff perpetuated false allegations from the Steele Dossier accusing Trump associates of colluding with Russia into the Congressional Record;” 

Schiff’s reply to Garvey cited an alleged discussion between a Trump 2016 campaign manager for a brief three month period, and someone that had a Russian intelligence connection.

Schiff conspicuously overlooks the proven and undisputed fact that 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign paid for Russian intelligence, as part of what is known as the Steele Dossier, that turned out to be completely false. Further, Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, illegally utilized an unsecured personal email server for relating government secrets. Only an idiot would contend that Russian, Iranian, Chinese, and North Korean hackers were not reading those emails. Hillary Clinton’s crime went unpunished, yet those that did far less in that regard went to prison for years. 

Schiff overlooks that Senator Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had a communist Chinese government spy on her Senate staff for twenty years.

Schiff overlooks that Congressman Eric Swalwell, another member of the House Intelligence Committee, “dated” a communist Chinese government spy that aided his original race for the House of Representatives.

The Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, and Swalwell situations well illustrate that Adam Schiff’s political opportunism always overrides actual facts of national security.    

Adam Schiff has the selective outrage always utilized by demagogues. For democracy to win, Schiff must lose.

Just as pop music fans of Taylor Swift are called “Swifties,” the complete lack of intellectual honesty required to support Adam Schiff might suggest that his political fans be termed “Schiffties.”